Central bankers, often like free masons, use a language that leaves dealing room men (and a slowly growing number of ladies) guessing. It can be monosyllabic, one-liners , or even a smile at reporters while stepping out after a meeting with the FM. These men of few words keep the market guessing before they spring a surprise . RBI seems to have broken away from the club.

It is adopting a cruder way of surprising the market by leaving nothing to its imagination. You can surprise people by making them endlessly interpret your moves and veiled hints; or, you can pull a surprise by squarely misleading them: say something and then do exactly the opposite a fortnight later. RBI, either by design or driven by compulsions , has picked the less subtle method of communicating to markets.

A fortnight ago, it told bankers why a CRR cut is difficult. The message was endorsed by a no-nonsense New Delhi voice, better known for his hardnosed views on inflation and a hawkish grip on RBI. The market settled for a status quo. Then on Tuesday , RBI went ahead and cut the reserve ratio. What does the market make of this? Depends on which group one belongs to.

There are two kinds of people in the market. There are men who split hairs, think too much. Here's what they may have to say:

* Why should RBI go on with more and more open market operations (OMOs)? Buying bonds will only help the government to finance its deficit. Should the governor be doing it after attacking the government on the fiscal front?

* A CRR cut makes sense. Banks can choose what to do with the extra money - whether to buy government bonds or lend to business.

* Unlike his deputy, the governor does not want to make the fine distinction between OMO (a liquidity management instrument) and CRR (a monetary policy tool). Maybe, he thought it no longer makes sense to rely on OMOs. The other group, with its rough and ready explanations , are believers of political economy. Here's their take on why Subbarao did what he did:

* There were pressures from Delhi. December quarter will show a GDP growth of only around 6%.

* Industry is saying enough is enough. If RBI did nothing, everyone would have panicked.

* A CRR cut sends out a strong message that RBI means business. It makes headlines. OMOs don't . The monetary authority's new communication style, which flummoxed bond traders on Tuesday, had a different impact on the currency market in 2011 when the rupee went into a tailspin. Quite unlike a central bank, RBI laid its cards on the table when it told the world that it would not sell dollars to support the rupee.

The announcement , almost a promise that the central bank would stay away from the market, was lapped up by the currency traders who suddenly spotted an opportunity to salvage their performance bonus. They shorted the rupee, pushing it down even lower, while RBI kept its word. While RBI has cut CRR after hinting that it won't , the central bank did exactly what it had said with the rupee.

But there is a similarity: in both the markets, nothing was left to the imagination of market participants. Bond traders thought there would be no CRR cut and OMOs would go on for ever, while foreign exchange dealers were betting that the rupee would continue to slide well into 2012. So, will RBI go slow on OMOs, now that it has cut CRR?

Traders relying on live news clips haven't yet figured out fully. But that's the new story in the bond market. Currency dealers , on the other hand, have been murmuring for the past couple of days whether RBI would lift the curbs it had placed on foreign exchange trading when the rupee was tumbling.

Newcomers in the dealing room were hopeful after a senior RBI official told their bosses that the restrictions were 'temporary' . It was communication of a different kind - a Saturday chit-chat on the condition that reporters would not sneak into the meeting.

But on Tuesday, Subbarao, facing an army of newspersons , had another message: the curbs would stay. Not many are surprised. Perhaps, the market is beginning to understand RBI's layered messages.